A long time ago, I was a militant junior doctor. I qualified too late to have anything to do with the 1975 junior doctors’ strike, but for several years I was involved in representing junior doctors in various ways. We campaigned to reduce onerous hours-of-work throughout my time in medical politics. One weekend, we arranged […]
Archive | Austerity
The wrong life
Sir Simon Wessely is President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Together with Greg Smith, who works for the College, he wrote this excellent article about proposals to eliminate the payment of welfare benefits to fat people and people with alcohol problems. It is suggested that they will have their benefits withdrawn if they don’t […]
In Athens and Detroit, there’s revolution in the air
Almost 20 years ago, I attended a meeting at the Department of Health in London and found that I was seated next to the late Professor Robert Kendall, at that time President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. I didn’t really know him. He cut a rather austere, cerebral figure. He was friendly, but not […]